Double Trouble
by wondergirlinwonderland
Summary: "Our daughters destroyed the curtains." "Joey, we don't have daughters." "Meet the twins!" Joey's lucky Atem has a soft spot for kittens, as well as his puppydog eyes. (Dragonshipping, slight AU)


**Title** : Double Trouble

 **Pairing:** Dragonshipping (Yami|Atem/Joey)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words:** 2,262

 **Author's Notes:** Inspired by a tag I have on my main Tumblr, "Imagine Your OTP," and that post of "We don't have a son." "Meet Baxter." I was tempted to do Puppyshipping again (because the post was actually referring to a puppy) but I love Dragonshipping and there is not enough of it out there! I hope my shippers are still around to read and enjoy this, though! Basically the AU is that Atem has his own body but references when he didn't. Also, if you follow Legally Blond and are waiting for an update, please be a little more patient. I had a very busy week and I spent most of it not even home. I don't ever want to rush that fic but this oneshot was very quickly written. I'll get it up soon, I promise.

* * *

Joey wasn't a cat person. He was very, very much a dog person (insert lame joke from Kaiba and/or Duke here.)

So when he accompanied Serenity to pick out a new pet, he was first taken in by the puppies in the kennels. A whole bunch of big eyes looked at him through cages and glass and he was tempted to take each and every one home. That is, until Serenity pulled him away, remarking how the apartment he had with his boyfriend wasn't big enough for a puppy to get the proper exercise.

She was right, and he stood by her instead as she tried to choose between a hamster and a rabbit. She had an even smaller apartment, but it was the first time she was living on her own and Joey agreed to get her a pet as a housewarming. As she looked back and forth, a guy about Joey's own age came over to see if they needed help.

Frankly, the guy grated on Joey's nerves a bit. He reminded him almost of Duke, if Duke wasn't half as good looking (what? Sure, Joey was in a relationship, but he could appreciate a good looking man) or successful. After obnoxiously asking if Joey was her boyfriend (to which Serenity giggled and clarified that no, he was her brother), he started turning up what Joey guessed was supposed to be charm.

The blond had never wished his sister had actually said yes to dating one of his friends until that moment.

He was, however, distracted by the worker's bad attempts at flirting by a soft lick to his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking down to see that he'd been standing pretty close to a cage with two young kittens.

Joey's first reaction was to look away and wrinkle his nose, but after he'd done that, he couldn't pull his eyes from the cats. The white one, who'd been the one to lick him, was staring at him with blue eyes and a tilted head that he actually found adorable. The other one, a black kitten with yellow eyes, was trying to reach out and swat at his jacket.

The white one then looked to Serenity and the worker, giving a hiss. It was something that would usually freak the blond out, but he couldn't help but smile at it. He leaned down and whispered to it, "Yeah, that's basically my reaction, too."

In a flash, the worker had noticed how close Joey was to the cage and his eyes widened. "Oh no, no, don't get so close, they're vicious. They hate everyone."

Joey looked up at him from his crouched stance in confusion. The white one hissed at the worker again but the black one didn't look up from the zipper she'd finally caught on Joey's jacket. "They seem to like me, maybe it's just you," he snapped. He didn't know why he was suddenly defensive of these cats, animals he'd never wanted to be near before this moment. He reached his hand closer to the cage, and as he heard the worker gasp above him, the white kitten licked his finger again.

"Big brother, you're a natural with them. Who'd have ever guessed?" He didn't have to look at his little sister to know she was smiling.

"I want them," he announced, surprising himself.

"A-are you sure?" the guy asked, all traces of his confident façade he'd put on for Serenity now gone. "They're a handful, are you sure you want both?"

"I want them," Joey repeated with a nod, smiling as those blue eyes were trained on him and he was sure the kitten understood what was happening.

* * *

Sometimes Atem didn't know how his cousin did this. Being involved in a major multibillion dollar gaming company was usually pretty interesting, almost fun, even. Coming up with new ideas, getting to see new technologies before the public, having your opinion matter…these were all really cool parts of being a part of Kaiba Corp., not to mention that this being your _job_ meant you get _paid_.

But with great power came great responsibility, and with what could possibly be one of the coolest jobs in the world came one of the most boring obligations.

Board meetings.

Also known as the bane of the former spirit's existence.

He couldn't even tell you what this suit was talking about at the front of the room. He was bored out of his mind. Ha, they should have been called _bored meetings_ instead. He smirked to himself at the thought. A moment later, Seto caught his eye and raised an eyebrow with a smirk of his own.

The two might not have seen eye to eye on much, and usually butted heads, but they also seemed to be on the same wavelength half the time, and were pretty good at reading each other. He could tell by the look on the brunet's face that he was not impressed with whatever pitch this guy was trying to sell them, and he was sure Seto could tell that Atem was way past paying attention. The shorter briefly wondered how either of them survived the royal equivalents of these in their old lives.

They broke eye contact when the taller of the two looked back to the presentation, at least pretending to be interested. Or maybe it was just to shoot daggers at the guy, Atem knew his cousin was pretty good at that. He decided to at least try to get back into focus, because if anyone were to ask his opinion, he'd rather not look like a complete imbecile.

Not even two minutes after he decided to actually pay attention again, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He willed himself not to check it, but the temptation to was strong. Technology was, surprisingly one of the easiest things for him to get accustomed to, and he attributed that to sharing Yugi's mind for so long, and he quickly got about as addicted to it as most young adults in this generation.

He had a feeling the message must have been from his boyfriend; most people didn't bother him at work except for Joey. Therefore, Seto would not be happy about him checking his messages during a meeting. He was supposed to be second-in-command here (though, technically, he was actually third, if you included Mokuba, but the dark-haired teenager was still finishing high school, so until the summer, Atem was second at these meetings). He really shouldn't be checking texts from his boyfriend.

Then again, he didn't know for sure if it was his boyfriend. There was a possibility it was Yugi, telling him something happened to Grandpa. (Sure, he would probably have called and Grandpa seemed healthier than either of them half the time, but it was a plausible excuse for Atem to use if his aforementioned boss/cousin were to complain about him checking his messages during an important meeting.)

Trying his best to be stealthy, the violet-eyed man slipped his phone from his pocket, doing his best to read the message without looking as though he was reading a message.

As he'd guessed, it was from Joey, but what it actually said concerned him.

' _I've got good news and bad news_.'

Looking around to make sure no one was looking, Atem typed back a response.

' _Bad news first_.'

He only had to wait a couple moments before he felt the buzz in his hands.

' _Our daughters destroyed the curtains._ '

Atem blinked almost dumbly at the answer, confused. Was that some kind of code? A typo? Joey's idea of a joke? They didn't have kids?

' _Joey, we don't have daughters._ '

His phone was quiet for about three minutes, in which time Atem made himself look interested in the presentation, which seemed to be ending. When it did go off again, he noticed it was a picture message this time.

There, on what was the couch in the apartment he and Joey shared, were two kittens. The black one with yellow eyes was on her back, looking up at the camera curiously, while the white one with blue eyes laid down looking bored. Joey's caption read, ' _Meet the twins!_ ' and Atem's eyes widened as the realization struck him.

He shoved the phone back in his pocket, unable and unwilling to deal with this right now. Just in time, as everyone stood up and he and Seto thanked the man and told him they'd be in touch. As they filed out of the board room, Seto slowed his pace to meet the shorter man's. "Tell the mutt if he doesn't stop sexting you during work hours, I'll be taking your phone for the duration of your shifts."

Uncharacteristically not in the mood to banter with his cousin, or even defend his boyfriend from the childish nickname Seto hadn't grown out of using, Atem rolled his eyes and brushed him off. He checked his watch when he got back to his own office. Just about 40 minutes until lunch, at which time he could rush home and have this talk with Joey in person.

* * *

Joey easily remembered why he wasn't a cat person. They couldn't be trained like dogs could and frankly, he was sure the little monsters he'd just taken home were just plain spiteful. After knocking down cups and a vase, tearing up the curtains in the living room, and nearly pushing aside the TV because one of them just _had_ to explore behind it, they'd finally calmed down and taken over his favorite seat on the couch.

He had been fully prepared to surprise Atem with these two when he came home from work, but after the mess they'd made, he knew he needed to give a warning. About an hour after said warning, the other half of the couple arrived back home to Joey laying on the floor.

The blond jumped up as his older but shorter boyfriend walked through the door. "Uh, hi," he said, smiling at him sheepishly.

"Joey," Atem started, eyeing the small creatures that were looking at him curiously. "Care to explain what's going on here?"

Sometimes the blond thought the other man was way too serious. "Well, um, the cats got a little antsy exploring their new home."

A dark eyebrow raised in response. Atem could tell that much, and he knew Joey knew what he was waiting for. An explanation of why these cats called this their new home.

Joey sighed in response, almost wanting to roll his eyes at the way Atem could say so much without even opening his mouth. "Okay, so, you know how I went with Serenity to get a pet? Well, when she was picking out hers, she got a bunny, by the way, he's so soft and fluffy and – okay, you don't have to look at me like that, I'll get back to the story. Anyway, while she was picking hers out, these two caught my attention and I know I should have consulted you first, but I just kind of felt a connection and then the guy at the shop said no one liked them because they didn't like anyone and I felt bad because they liked me, and so…"

He bit his lip and looked at Atem with big, pleading eyes, hoping he understood and didn't make him give them back.

Slowly, said boyfriend's features softened, looking back and forth from the cats to Joey. He gave a sigh in response, looking up to the ceiling. ' _Why am I such a sucker for him?_ ' he thought to himself before looking back at the blond. "You're cleaning this," he told the other, trying to maintain even a semblance of sternness. "What'd you decide to call them?"

Joey lit up, his smile taking over his face. Atem couldn't help but give a small smile of his own as Joey went to pick up the kittens. "This one is Cleo, it's short for Cleopatra," he said, holding up the black one who didn't seem to want to sit still. The white one looked at Atem as if he wasn't even there, not moving as Joey bounced her a little, "And this is Kisara."

Atem nodded, corners of his mouth twisting upwards. "Pretty names. I like the references, and they're really gorgeous creatures," he admitted, getting closer to them to softly stroke Cleo's head before leaning up to kiss Joey, who happily leaned to get closer as well.

When they pulled away, the former spirit smirked. "By the way, Seto would like me to let you know, if you don't stop sexting me while I'm at the office, he'll be taking my phone away during business hours."

Joey's love-struck look quickly turned into furrowed eyebrows and an angry frown. "Fucking Moneybags. Damn stick in the mud, or stick up his ass, always has to be a jerk. He's probably just jealous no one's interested in screwing him and – wait, I don't even sext you at work!"

Atem laughed softly; though he had no intention of letting Seto take his phone anyway, he knew relaying the message would ruffle his boyfriend's feathers a bit. "You're right, you don't." He smirked as he began walking backwards. He needed to get back to work soon and hadn't even had his lunch. "Maybe you should."

Joey gave a smirk of his own, along with a slight blush that he never really showed to anyone but Atem. The former Pharaoh turned on his heel, walking towards the door. "But clean this up first."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Closing statements – Wondergirl's got a Tumblr! Actually, I've had a Tumblr for a while but now I have a writing sideblog with my fanfiction name as a URL. .com if you'd like to follow it. I haven't actually posted anything on that yet, but I plan on posting links to my works and prompts and things!


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